C&G staff face axe

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Bank bosses have axed 31 branches of former building society Cheltenham & Gloucester.

Around 315 staff could lose their jobs when one in six of the chain's branches close their doors in November.

While owners Lloyds TSB, which rakes in #120 a second, claims it will try to relocate jobs to other branches, union bosses fear many roles will be moved to Lloyds.

"We are also worried this could mean the end of C&G," said a Lloyds TSB Group Union spokesman. "It could disappear altogether."

In a separate move, Lloyds will also chop 210 computer programming jobs in London, Cardiff and Manchester. These roles will be relocated to India.

Union Unite said that there was no justification to either of the cutbacks.

Official John Bancroft said: "We will oppose any compulsory job losses and will continue to challenge the business rationale for this decision. We believe local branches are the financial lifeblood of the company."

Jon Pain, managing director at C&G, said: "Closing branches is never a decision that we take lightly but, with more customers taking advantage of technology, the number of customers coming through the doors in these particular branches has fallen.

"By closing these branches where customer use has dropped, we can invest in the branches that customers do use."